Insistence
by fan-nerd
Summary: Apollo's more concerned about Trucy going on a date than Phoenix is, for very different reasons. AJ/GS4 spoilers.


A/N: I finished Apollo Justice. I ship everything. Oops. Incest warning. Warnings for GS1 through GS4. Set shortly post game, and before GS5 (which I know nothing about).

* * *

**Insistence**

* * *

Apollo is always so frightfully serious – tonight, of course, is no exception. He's buzzing around the Agency-slash-law-office like he's trying to start a fire, heels so fervent against the vinyl that his 'boss' is frightened that he may actually do just that.

"Calm down," Phoenix urges him, as he shrugs off his coat and plops onto the couch, where the set of tomes had been placed upon his entrance. "What are you so nervous about, anyways?" Of course, even as he's asking the question, there are very few things that his protégé would become so worked up about, and seeing as he hasn't heard any news of the ex-rock star-slash-prosecutor, he can only assume it's the other important person, besides himself, that has the kid (he doesn't feel so bad calling him that at times like this, not when he's so short and bunched up, and filled with adolescent energy, because the eleven-year age difference really makes itself known) scowling so hard and burning holes in his vinyl and carpet.

"Mister Wright!" He looks over with surprise, and it then becomes known to the man exactly how oblivious to his surroundings the younger attorney was. He hadn't noticed him come in and get relaxed, although he'd been speaking to him, and had come in more than ten minutes ago now. "Trucy's, she's, uh…" Apollo is stuttering and sputtering, and his eyebrows are thick and contorted. Phoenix snorts against his will. "Don't laugh! It's not even remotely funny!"

_This is hilarious, actually_, the older man smirks to himself and shrugs for the other male's benefit, hooding his expression with his familiar old beanie. "Well, how am I supposed to know exactly what we're supposed to be so upset with Trucy over, if you won't tell me?" He hasn't been home for a few days, although he's been paying the bills, and keeping watch from afar over his child and the defense attorney, who have just finished a case that will keep them well-fed for a few weeks, at least. Teasing him is an added bonus—he knows _exactly_ why the tan young man is about to burst a gasket, but somehow, it's more fun to force him to explain himself.

"A _date!_" Justice says the word like it's the foulest thing he's ever heard of, and Phoenix chokes back another chuckle at his expense. "She's going on a date with some _guy_—she only talked about him to me once, and they met at the Bar, and I can't believe she's going on a _date_ on the other side of town, and she had the _nerve_ to tell me she told _Gavin_—Gavin, of all people—all about it, but didn't tell me because she _knew_ I _knew_ she was hiding something! Well, if she had told me about it, I wouldn't have had to drag the explanation out of her!" He was screeching, using his vocal chords that he was so gloriously in love with perfecting in all of the wrong ways, and his boss had trouble finding a reason not to plug his ears. "A _date_?! I don't even know the guy's name!"

Although he was disgruntled by the prospect, he was not nearly as invested in stopping his daughter from introducing herself to the dating scene – she would have to enter it some time, and although it made him feel weary and old all of the sudden, he was less frightened at this aspect of the dating scene. Things were still pretty innocent, and she wasn't serious about this guy; it was only a first date. Still, he knew there was another reason he felt a little queasy. More than likely, it was because he knew exactly what Apollo was going through, although for a very different reason.

The younger man in his tutelage was, in the most base of human functionalities, purely jealous, and probably not in a platonic or familial way. Despite their age difference of seven years, and a secret so large that it threatened to break this precious, thin red thread between them, the other man was hopelessly infatuated with his daughter.

Now, this prospect frightened him much more than any first date with some no-name boys Trucy had met at the Bar and had agreed to go to dinner with, because she already trusted and loved her half-brother, in a sense. If Apollo ever managed to get his thoughts straight and the blush to recede long enough to sputter a confession, as a father, he felt that things would certainly come to a screeching halt in his mind and heart. He'd be giving away something precious, and he wasn't sure, concerning this particular man, that he would ever get it back.

"Mister Wright, she's supposed to be leaving in fifteen minutes, and I—!" He halted himself, shaking his left fist, causing his bracelet to jingle on his wrist, and then, with a large puff of air, shockingly deflated. "I don't have any right to stop her, I suppose."

"Why don't you offer to take her somewhere else, then?" Phoenix felt like a traitor—to whom? The deceased Zak? The recently 'revived' Thalassa? Himself? Probably to all of the above. In fact, the bile rose in his throat in reaction to the very thought of what he was insinuating, but in the same turn, he felt they were his own family, and he knew it would make them happier than he could've possibly explained. "You should know her favorite places better than him, right?"

Apollo's eyes lit up, and although he smiled, his brow was still furrowed like a storm was forthcoming. "But…we hang out all the time. I don't think she'll ditch her date just because I decided I wanted to go watch her perform magic tricks in the park—again."

"There's no harm in trying." _What the hell am I saying? I'm practically giving my __**daughter**__ and her half-brother my blessings._

When Trucy bounded down the steps in an absolutely adorable short black dress, and her hair was without a hat to cover it, both Apollo and Phoenix were silenced suddenly, for contrasting reasons. Phoenix was positively heartbroken that his girl was growing up, and he sort of felt like crying. His only reason for keeping himself together, his reason, which had held him close, crying silently against him while he kept his sobs in, had smiled at him when his own lips would not twitch up, when he didn't mean it, when his eyes wouldn't open like they used to. She had makeup on, and he had half a mind to scold Apollo, who had probably helped her smuggle it into the house, and he opened his mouth to speak, but the other male beat him to it.

"Someone's all dressed up," Apollo was stern in tone, but very obviously had meant to spurt out _'you look great',_ and his whole demeanor, from those stubbornly crossed arms, to the blush across his nose, and his furrowed brow told the real story. "Last chance to change your mind. You don't even know this guy!"

She blinked her big brown eyes and smiled. "I didn't know you once either, Polly!" Trucy seemed so pleased to have picked at him this way that her adoptive father couldn't help laughing. It was true, after all. They'd only met in the last year, and had become so amazingly close, so quickly. Phoenix supposed that when you worked together everyday, that was no surprise. "Unless you've got a better offer, I'm headed out." Now that he was paying very special attention to two people that were more observant than was the norm, he felt like he could see better than they ever could – but that was because of age and experience, not exceptional gift, like them.

"Wait, Trucy," Apollo had reached for her wrist, but had stopped at the last second, fingers twitching nervously. His daughter was reading him like a book, already grinning. "Um, any chance that we could…uh…go visit Plum and Wocky? They promised to give me some free pastries if you'd, uh, do another show in the park."

"Geez, you sure waited 'til the last second to ask me!" Trucy sounded exasperated, but not at all surprised. In fact, Mister Hat appeared from nowhere, yet again, and plopped both her hat on her head, and his own on top of the wooden contraption. "I cancelled my date yesterday, 'cause I had a feeling you wanted to ask me to do something else, but you never said so! I was gonna have to walk around in this silly dress without my cape for two hours if you hadn't stopped me!"

It had been a test, then. _Well played, Trucy,_ Phoenix thought, in the same turn that he sighed and stood up, smiling that same lopsided smile he'd trained himself to play for years. "Well then, kid, I expect you'll be escorting her during this time, instead? She's already seemed to say you've passed the test."

"Oh, Daddy, you gave me away too soon," Trucy didn't really whine, but looked relieved to have her father's permission and acceptance. "Well, c'mon, Polly! Free pastries!"

Her companion sputtered and argued all the way down the hall, but Phoenix could only sigh and make a phone call once he was absolutely sure that they wouldn't be able to hear him. Thalassa seemed entirely unsurprised to hear from him – she rarely was, these days.

"Hello, Thalassa," Wright began, feeling old again, and entirely out of his element. "I don't suppose you could pardon me for more than few things…"

"Well, if I don't know what I'm pardoning you for, I could hardly do such a thing," She teased back, matching his lazy tone, but she noted the anxiety in his voice, even over the phone. "What seems to be the problem?"

"It seems that my children—er, your children…" He paused, and in his awkward silence, she chuckled.

"They are as much yours as they are my own," Thalassa was always so forgiving to his blunders – what a lovely woman. Shame he had to break this news on an otherwise pleasant Saturday afternoon.

"Err, about that fact…they've probably grown more than…_familial_ in their regards for each other. Maybe. I mean, nothing's certain, but…"

"But they're attracted," _Blast the Gramarye genes. _She sounded less disappointed than he'd expected, and not entirely surprised. "Well…they don't know they're related. As long as they remain ignorant of this fact…"

"They'll have to find out eventually," Phoenix felt desperate and exhausted. "If not from us, then who? I feel terrible – I've been keeping secrets and making plans for seven years, and I'm good and damn well tired of it. Of course I want them to be happy! I wish both of them nothing but the best…but I can't help but wonder if this…if keeping this secret would be the best thing for them…or the worst." He felt that same sense of dread he felt when Maya had been kidnapped, when Mia had died, when Edgeworth had left that note, when Dahlia had tried to get him killed in court. All of the sudden, he vomited all over a set of documents he'd been studying only a short time ago. "Sorry, I'll call you back."

"Take your time. Don't distress – it's not your fault."

He sat there for a long time and pondered. Legally, it didn't matter. Everything in paper said that their mother, the only genetic tie between them, was dead—had been for _years_. Legally, Trucy was _his_—a Wright. Her blood dictated that she belonged to Zak Gramarye, Shadi Enigmar, Shadi Smith—whichever name for whomever it concerned—but now, he was deceased, as well. Apollo, he had been lost to the system since entering it, an orphan with a mysterious origin and strange powers of observation. Nothing tied him to her on paper – nothing was even known about his birth father or mother to the boy, and he didn't care. He was happy with his life, his foster home, and the family he'd made for himself at the Wright Anything Agency.

Phoenix Wright reached for a bottle of wine, took a long swig, and tried not to cry. He tried not to think about what Kristoph Gavin would have done in this situation, because it made him feel insane, just as well as it would have offered him a relevant solution.

x

"Hey, Trucy…" Apollo felt nervous, which forced his voice to sound loud, and made his face contort into an expression that could be described as tense at best, and scary at worst. His companion knew, however, that this simply meant he was embarrassed. "Next time, maybe we could, err…go to that restaurant. You know, the one you wanted to go to with that guy. We could get something nice. Maybe some real fancy spaghetti, like your model at home!"

She blinked at him and burst out in giggles. Trucy clasped his hand and squeezed it reassuringly, trying to calm him down a little bit. "You're scaring people, Apollo," She murmured, and just as he muttered an excuse, she tilted her head up just a bit, as she was only a bit shorter than he was, and kissed him chastely on the lips. "So calm down and just ask me what you've been skirting around for ages."

"Will you go out with me?!" He still yelled it, but his face was red and the scowl wasn't nearly so deep as it had been before.

"Of course, silly," Trucy said, looping her arms around his neck, and leaning in for a longer, deeper kiss. "You don't have to use your Chords of Steel at such close range, big bro."

"Stop calling me that, especially right after we kissed," Apollo seems a little put out, but he can't refute the name's origin, after all – not when they'd both stumbled upon that little fact due to her adoptive father's negligence, or perhaps his plans. Still, despite their brief nervous avoidance, they'd decided that, as much time as they'd spent knowing nothing of each other's existence, and the legality of their relationship, it wasn't worth the worry. Stranger things had happened.

"Polly, then," She promised with a smile, and though he still grumbled, he silently agreed that this was the better choice of the two. Grabbing his hand, she tugged on his left arm. "Let's head back! We promised Daddy we'd be home in a couple hours, after all."

Dreadfully, Apollo hoped that, if Mister Wright _had_ figured out everything about their relationship, he wouldn't kill his sort of half-son and his daughter's new boyfriend, who were both working for the man, as they were both himself.

Suddenly, he gulped. If anything went wrong, it probably meant _he'd_ be the one standing on the witness stand, getting picked apart by the famous attorney, and would possibly stand to lose everything. Frightened, he urged Trucy to walk home _maybe_ just a little bit slower.


End file.
